SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, recently said “Businesses around the world are failing miserably at creating an engaged workforce.” Recent surveys and Gallup data show that the need to increase engagement is pressing, yet the overall picture is bleak. Only about 34% of U.S. workers report that they are engaged at work. It’s important to point out that this applies to you in higher education, even if you don’t consider yourself a “business” per say. It’s also worth noting that this really, really matters.
You want your employees to be as engaged as possible. Engaged employees do their jobs better and care more. They work more collaboratively with one another, are better at solving problems without a manager needing to step in, and are more productive in general. Because of this, they are happier, and more likely to remain at your organization longer. An engaged team is better for everyone – including management.
Yet, as important as employee engagement is, many organizations are completely missing the mark. Let’s dig into exactly why there’s so much disengagement among employees in higher education, then what can be done to solve the problem.
Understanding the Underlying Issue
The same SHRM article mentioned above tells us that one of the most important drivers of employee engagement may also be one of the most overlooked: making sure employees have all the tools they need to succeed in their roles. We’re talking about your tech stack.
Let’s use Mathias, a student employee at The University of Vermont, as an example. In addition to his class schedule, he works for both the dinning hall and bookstore. When checking his dining hall schedule, he needs to log into software A, requiring a password. When he checks his bookstore schedule, he needs a separate password and login credentials to access it via software B. Even more annoying for him, the schedules overlap and he needs to give away a dinning hall shift – but to who? He doesn’t know any of his coworkers' phone numbers. He leaves a note for his manager at her desk, assuming she’ll see it. He would benefit from simpler, more streamlined procedures – and so would his manager, because now she needs to see the sticky note and manually change the schedule herself!
Multiple Schedules and Logins
In just a few minutes, it’s easy to see why Mathias would feel disengaged from his two departments. He’s not alone. At university campuses all around the country, current processes require people like Mathias to remember two or three different passwords to log in to multiple schedules for multiple departments. It’s no wonder employees become frustrated.
It isn’t just multiple logins for multiple departmental schedules. Far too many higher education institutions fall victim to having several tools that staff can use to accomplish the same goal. Take communication for instance. You may have a messaging app in place, but some people use email, others send texts, and so on. Having this many tools creates an environment where your staff do not know where to go for what and who they need. They end up checking everything so often they grow fatigued, missing some important messages, and eventually growing tired of the process.
At the same time, when these tools run independently of the schedule, they will inevitably require manager involvement to make a change or approval – costing you or other leaders’ time as well.
PTO and Shift Changes
Too often, the process of requesting time off or dropping a shift is loaded with so many extra, unnecessary steps that employees simply tell their manager they can't come in. This shifts the problem from Mathias’ to his manager’s plate, rather than empowering him to find solutions that work for him. Simply put, you’re giving yourself more work while your staff start to feel disengaged and frustrated.
Employee Feedback
A large portion of universities aren’t doing employee reviews. These are essential for team members like Mathias to provide feedback to his manager. He needs her to know he’s growing frustrated with the fact that his two schedules too often overlap. He needs Mondays off, yet she always puts him on Monday shifts. It’s a constant problem, because she doesn’t see the trend and he isn’t able to contact her in an efficient way. He wants to tell her, but how can it happen without an employee review?
Mathias is in good company feeling as if maybe his life would be easier at another job. When looked at by the college and university professional association for HR, 57% of all employees surveyed are considering changing their job in the next 12 months. This is due to:
- A lack of flexibility in their schedule
- Technology gaps that make it impossible to manage their own schedule
- No automated system for employee reviews
Mathias isn’t the only one considering a new job; his manager is too. Her job is significantly harder handling everything so inefficiently. Universities often see high rates of professional staff turnover, because they’re spending more time working on administrative tasks rather than student development.
SubItUp Changes Everything
The problem is clear, and so is the solution. SubItUp can take disparate systems, methods of communication, and schedules and combine them. As a result, employees are happier and more engaged because they have one place to do everything.
When we say everything, we mean it! This includes having one login, making sure their schedules are not conflicting if they work in more than one department, and providing other functionalities like requesting PTO – all in one portal.
On the SubItUp platform, Mathias can create and send in-app messages, emails, and text messages from one portal. He can directly communicate with individual team members, everyone who shares his position title, or everyone in the department.
What the Portal Looks Like for Employees and What They Can do
Once in SubItUp, staff members have access to:
- A schedule that is fully integrated into the calendar
- The ability to add, drop, and select a shift
- Color coded shifts for increased visibility
- A contact list to reach out to other staff members
- The ability to request time off
- A view of hours they have worked for a time period
- Visibility into what they’re going to get paid
- The ability to submit availability
- A full messaging system to email and text message
- Links to resources, designed by managers, meaning files and websites they need access to in order to do their job
- Account settings to share pronouns, set notifications, and more
SubItUp also has a fully-capable mobile app, so they can do it all from wherever they are. If your current tech stack doesn’t offer all of this, it’s quite likely your team members are growing more and more disengaged and even leaving as a result.
The Cost Savings Associated With a More Engaged Workforce
Improving employee engagement means a team of happier people. That’s great in and of itself, but there’s also the financial aspect to consider. Higher education institutions often mistakenly think they’re saving money by manually creating their schedules on disconnected tools. Just because a method is low-cost or even “free” doesn’t mean it isn’t expensive in the long run. In fact, manually handling your schedule this way may be adding thousands or even millions to your budget over the course of a year. A few hours here and there across thousands of employees really adds up.
Inappropriately managing your teams with disparate systems is costing you 5% more in labor costs. While 5% may not sound like a lot at first, keep in mind that at University of South Carolina this accounted for close to two million dollars extra in a single year. This additional cost is the result of both inefficiency and time theft. SubitUp fights time theft on your behalf. We solve this by providing automated oversight and real-time reconciliation of time clock data.
The cost savings that SubItUp brings to institutions cannot be overstated. Research tells us that a lot of people aren’t reconciling time cards. This causes a breakdown of budget at the departmental, divisional, and campus-wide level. Even at the divisional level, this is a million-dollar problem.
Our passion is to help unite the disparate systems and software platforms on campus – saving you time, money, and stress in the process. We’re here to make it all easier and less-costly for your team, everything from employee scheduling, to integrated time clocks, to payroll reporting, and beyond. It all begins with the right tech stack, a software platform that keeps your team members engaged and your budget on track. Reach out to us and let’s have a conversation about what we can do to make this happen for you.
